Stagger Lee is one ofMissouri's most celebrated characters in song. Loads of people have sung about the seemingly amoral anti-hero, but here are the facts, ma'am.

Lee "Stag" Shelton was born on March 16, 1865. As a young man he drove a carriage cab and pimped. He also operated a "sporting club," the Modern Horseshoe Club in St. Louis's "Bloody Third" Ward, in an area known as Chestnut Valley. Chestnut Valley and the sporting clubs located there were instrumental in the development of ragtime. Shelton was part of a pimp clique called The Macks. His trademarks included a high roller stetson, rings, an ebony cane, spats and St. Louis flats -- mirrored shoes with pointy, upturned toes. Oh yeah, and a .44 Smith & Wesson.

On St. Stephens Day, 1895, Shelton and Billy Lyons were at a the Bill Curtis Saloon (described by the paper as "the envy of all its competitors and the terror of the police") together, in the "Deep Morgan" neighborhood. Initially they were cordial, but after more drinks, began smacking each others' hats after the conversation turned to politics. First, Shelton grabbed Lyons' derby. Lyons then removed Shelton's stetson. According to witnesses, Shelton demanded either the hat be returned or Lyons pay with his life. Lyons pulled out a knife he'd borrowed in advance from his friend and companion at the bar, Henry Crump. Shelton then shot Billy Lyons.

Stagger Lee's old residence

According to a witness, Lyons dropped the hat, at which point Shelton yelled, "Give me my hat, nigga!," picked it up and walked back to his home on Sixth in "Tamale Town," gave his gun to his landlady and hit the hay. At 4:00am, Lyons died in the hospital.

Shelton went to trial (twice) and ended up getting sent to Jeff City to serve his 25 year sentence. He was paroled in 1909 but went back two years later after robbing a house and bashing owner William Akins's head in with his gun. In 1912, Stagger Lee died in prison of consumption. He's buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Hillsdale.

John Lomax published the first known version of a commemorative song which he was given by Ella Scott Fisher in 1910. Mississippi John Hurt wrote what many consider the definitive version. In 1959, Lloyd Price had a massive #1 hit with his version, recorded the previous year.